Closer (Stage Dive 4.60)

“I was good to you.”

“You were shit. But it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“What?” he sneered. “Because you’re fucking the hired help?”

“No. Because I’m over you. I have been for a while.” I sighed. “If I hadn’t met Ziggy, I still wouldn’t want a damn thing to do with you. You’re nothing more than human rubbish. Now kindly take yourself out to the curb.”

The ex sputtered, his face turning a particularly vibrant shade of red. It was a wondrous sight. Truly. Something I’d treasure until my dying day.

Ziggy stepped forward. “The lady asked you to leave.”

And while the ex might have been big and built, I wouldn’t give him a chance against someone like Ziggy. Happily and somewhat surprisingly, he seemed intelligent enough to understand that much at least. The sound of the door slamming after him will reverberate in the happy depths of my soul unto my dying day.

I breathed out. “Wow.”

“Feel better?” he asked, coming up nice and close to me.

“Much. It’s amazing really. I feel lighter, almost. Like I’d been carrying something around and I didn’t even realize it.”

He just smiled. “I’m glad.”

“You two are so cute together.” Lena happy sighed. “Honestly, just, you look great together. Would you mind if I took some pictures? Just for your private collection, of course.”

“We should leave,” said Ev, dragging the other woman out of her chair. “We should go so Mae and Ziggy can have some privacy and breakfast and whatever.”

“Oh, okay. Mae, call me later.”

“I will call you later,” I dutifully replied.

The door finally closed behind the two women, and Ziggy and I were alone. At last. Just me and my new man, who looked particularly fetching with his stubble and all.

“Thank you,” I said. “You helped get me back to myself. Everything that’s happened…I guess I just really see what I let that idiot do to my head now.”

“All those doubts gone?”

“Yeah. I think they really are.” I slid my arms around him, resting my head against his chest. “You want to be happy with me, Ziggy Thayer?”

“Let me tell you something,” he said, kissing the top of my head. “Miss Cooper, I already am.”

EPILOGUE

The door clicked open, Ziggy stepping into the apartment. “Why wasn’t that door locked?”

“Because Leonard let me know you were on your way up.” I sucked some chocolate frosting off a finger and gave him my wickedest smile. “Also, that’s a shitty way to greet your woman after you’ve been gone for five long days, Mister Thayer.”

“I’ll take seeing to your safety over niceties any day of the week, sweetness.” He turned the alarm system back on and locked the door. “You know that.”

“Hmm.”

He moved toward me like the big predator he was. “I missed you.”

“Did you now?”

“I did. Did you miss me?”

I smiled again. “You absence might not have gone entirely unnoticed.”

“Kind of you. That why you’re making my favorite cake?” He stepped around the kitchen island, sliding an arm around my waist. The man still wore a black suit like nobody’s business. Playing it cool after he’d been gone for a week was a tough ask, in all honesty. He kissed my cheek, lips lingering against my skin. One big hand slid over my left butt cheek. “Or is that why you’re wearing nothing but a skimpy chemise beneath that apron?”